CHEF SAMBRANO Food Articles Video Recipes

Monday, October 28, 2013

PLATE LUNCH SERIES FALL 2013 #16 Alicia's Market

ALICIA'S MARKET Oahu Island.
Thanks to my friend's on Yelp.com, it gives me ammo. If you are looking for that out of the way local food dig, a place where is out of the way, and don't mind walking a tad to get there after you park your car, there's a place on the island of Oahu called Alicia's Market located at 267 Mokauea St. Honolulu, HI 96819.

As we delve further into this Fall's series on plate lunches in Hawaii, and its culture, one thing that's really missing in Lahaina where I currently reside is those old markets that were run by the Japanese and Chinese that were the mom and pops that set the standards in our small towns. It was run by the hard working families, the names on Maui runs deep, like Yamamoto, Nagasako, Ooka's, Azeka's, Kishi, Ichiki, Yamada, Komoda's, Fong's, Hanzawa's, etc. These families did not have fancy foods, but good comforting foods, generally it was Asian influenced from Japanese,Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Hawaiian, but it was the foods that were simple. The Yamada's my classmates from school's family ran the only Okazu Ya (side dishes/shop) on Front Street. Karl our classmate would take orders, and we'd get our food in boxes ready for an excursion for school, the boxes would be filled with shrimp tempura, lupcheong, rice balls with ume (sour plum Ooo- May), teriyaki beef. And it goes on and on with the other families, the Azeka's were famous for their Sweet Meat, or Kalbi Beef Shortribs. Nagasako's would have everything, roast pork, rice, fish, sushi, fried akule (mackerel), poke, sashimi, just everything would be fresh, fish, hogs, beef and this was back in the day, now days those places are being replaced by Whole Foods, Safeway etc. Good? Ahhh, not really, the locals ran better quality stuff. Sorry big corporations!

This is a totally local looking market, see the ice shave ice sign?
FROM GARY F.
Roast Top Sirloin and Poke! Mean
From Yelp.
Gary's plate is great for hang overs.
FROM CHADWICK M.
Mixed Plate Char Siu/Roast Pork.
From Yelp.
Chadwick's plate is great for when you just broke up with your girlfriend, or when you need to appear in court.
FROM BORA K.
Plat lunch with Kalua Pork, BBQ duck, and Poke
From Yelp.
Bora's plate looks great for a flight to Vegas
FROM RYAN T.
Ahi Limu Poke
From Yelp.
*Limu is a type of seaweed that is firm and very thin like and chopped and infused in lots of fish dishes in Hawaii, even when cleaned it has the ocean scent.
FROM BEV Z.
Poke & Char Siu Mini plate! Onolicious!!
From Yelp
* When ordering a plate lunch, some restaurants or food counters or trucks will offer the diner a mini plate that is slightly smaller than a regular plate, though I've seen some minis really huge and the regulars could feed 2 peeps!
FROM POMAI S.
Alicia's Roasted Turkey Tails
"Ass of turkey is ono, seriously"
From Yelp
Okay Junior, no need to get grossed out, it's just like eating oxtails!
FROM RYAN T.
Baby Tako Karaage
Tako (Tah koh) is octopus. it is breaded and deep fried
From Yelp.
This dish is great for drinking beers with the boys after a ball game or during a ball game, we used to eat this in the dugout during softball tournaments.
FROM PAMAI S.
Alicia's fresh made chow mein noodle plates
Now this is a real local Hawaiian style food dig. Hungry? No cooking involved, just drive there and pick it up and STUFF YO FACE!
From Yelp.

I can go on and on about Alicia's Market, but my hand's are getting all stiff from clicking the mouse. Believe me, this place has what locals in Hawaii look for so if you want to delve into our plate lunch culture, find places like these and you'll see, smell, and taste it. And the people the work there, and frequent there, that's the beauty of it all. 
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